Four Birthdays
by sein Henker
Summary: Snapshots of Ianto's last four birthdays.


Title: Four birthdays  
Summary: Snapshots of Ianto's last four birthdays.  
Rating: M for non-graphic sexual content  
Word Count: 2040  
Other Chapters: No  
Disclaimer: The British Broadcasting Corporation owns Torchwood and all related characters, settings, and trademarks. I do not profit in any way from this material.  
Pairings: Ianto Jones/Lisa Hallett (sexual); Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness (sexual); Jack Harkness/the Doctor (mentioned); Jack Harkness/John Hart (mentioned)  
Contains: Non-graphic discussion of sexual acts  
Warnings: Internalized homophobia

* * *

Ianto is twenty-three, and everything is perfect. There's a car alarm blaring outside and at least two dogs are very vocally upset about this, but Lisa's still fast-asleep and naked in Ianto's bed and that's the only thing in the universe that matters. She's brilliant and beautiful and she isn't the only woman he's ever woken up next to, but he does hope she'll be the only one from now on. It's Saturday. They stayed up late last night and slept later than they should have today. They'll pay for it if they can't fix their sleep schedules by Monday, but they'll still feel it was worth it. Spontaneous birthday sex until sun-up was not a particularly responsible decision, even on a weekend, but it was a damn good decision.

He wraps his arm around her and kisses her shoulder. She doesn't stir.

She doesn't always stay over. They haven't quite been together six months yet, so he's trying not to get ahead of himself. Ianto falls in love too quickly and he knows it, but everything within him is screaming that he can't possibly be too quick with this one. He really doesn't think he's ever felt this way about any other woman.

She yawns, and he smiles even though she's got her back to him. "Good morning."

She rolls over and grins at him. "Good morning, birthday boy." She kisses him and sits up, and his eyes flicker to her breasts because they're bare and right in front of his face, but he's three years too old to be a horny teenager, so he suggests they go out for breakfast and self-consciously hopes she hasn't noticed him looking and got the wrong impression. She agrees to breakfast after a shower, and he goes into the bathroom to show her how to work the knobs and they have steamy, wet sex and end up getting lunch instead.

They take a walk around London and talk about birthdays and films and politics and how absolutely bonkers Torchwood is, and then they go back to Ianto's flat and watch bad films to settle petty debate questions and laugh at each other's ridiculous theories.

Rhiannon calls, and Ianto answers and accepts her good birthday wishes, but doesn't stay on the phone long. He makes up a few excuses for why he hasn't been returning her calls, and he knows she knows they're all bullshit. He doesn't dislike her. She's done nothing wrong. He dislikes everything she reminds him of. He won't speak ill of the dead, but he still hasn't found it within himself to forgive the dead, even after five long years. It's okay, though. He can take a reminder of his family and history back in Cardiff because despite those things he has a girlfriend and a future in London, and it's perfect.

Lisa doesn't stay that night. She does tell him she loves him as she leaves, though, and she doesn't seem to mind when he says it back too quickly. It's the best birthday gift he's ever gotten.

* * *

Ianto is twenty-four, and everything is fine. They're both still alive, and he can and will save Lisa. It's difficult. He's sneaking around a lot and sleeping very little, but he can't complain when he looks at her. He'll make her better again at any cost to himself.

He goes to see Lisa that morning. He slips into the base before Jack wakes up and sneaks downstairs undetected, and he kisses her and caresses her face and holds her, and he does his very best to ignore the cold metal that bites into his skin as he does so. He offers to bring her a blanket, but she says she's never cold. He doesn't tell her what day it is. He knows she lost track of time weeks ago, and he doesn't want to remind her for fear that it would only scare her if she knew how long she'd been like this. She needs to stay hopeful.

He leaves her before he'd like to. He goes upstairs and makes Jack coffee rather than sneaking home, even though it's a weekend, because they still haven't quite sorted some bizarre business with a space wasp, and Jack expects them to come in every day until they have. Aliens don't care about normal business hours.

Rhiannon calls. Ianto answers. She asks him to come over tonight and let her make him dinner. Celebrate with the family. She knows he doesn't have any friends and although he never lied to her about Lisa being dead, he's let her assume he's single. She sounds surprised and happy when he agrees to come over at 7:00. He can't spend the night with Lisa, and home-made dinner with his sister and her family sounds a bit less pathetic than McDonalds and a Dexter marathon alone in his flat.

Jack remembers that it's Ianto's birthday. It's 6:30 at night and Ianto is the last member of the team to leave, as he usually is. Jack stops, turns as if he'd almost forgotten, and wishes Ianto a happy birthday. "Let me buy you a drink," he says with a smile, and Ianto isn't sure if it's an innocent birthday gesture or if he's trying to escalate things beyond the innocent flirting Ianto had been allowing and even reciprocating for weeks now. Ianto... can't. He tells Jack he has plans with his sister, "But thanks." Jack frowns, but shrugs. He claps Ianto on the shoulder and tells him to have a good time with his family.

Ianto smiles as he walks to his car, and he feels a little bit guilty about it. He still doesn't quite know how he's going to explain Jack and Lisa to each other, when the time comes. What's there to explain? It's not really cheating. He has been leading Jack on a bit, though, and he's not sure how Lisa will feel about that. He's been enjoying the attention. He is genuinely happy that Jack remembered his birthday. It's bad. He smiles anyway.

He has a good time with Rhiannon. Everything is fine.

* * *

Ianto is twenty-five, and he's nervous. Jack offers to buy him dinner, and this time Ianto can and does accept. Jack is definitely flirting. That's normal, but Ianto isn't really sure that it means anything. Jack likes him. Ianto is pretty sure Jack likes him. He's less certain that Jack likes himenough to never leave him again. Ianto falls in love too quickly and he knows it, and Jack still often mentions his Doctor. Ianto has a sinking feeling that there's a very pretty face to match that name that Jack still whispers like a closely guarded secret. Ianto'd heard strange and brilliant stories about the Doctor at Torchwood London, and if Jack had a type, "strange and brilliant" would be it. Ianto hadn't been jealous of John for long; There obviously isn't much to be jealous of. The Doctor is another matter entirely.

Jack holds Ianto's hand above the table at dinner, and Ianto's heart skips a few beats in a bad way, but he doesn't pull away. He likes it when Jack touches him, but he's not sure he likes it as much when Jack touches him in public. They've had sex before, many times, and they've even gone on other dates, but those were mostly in dark cinemas and gay-friendly restaurants. Jack knows all the places in town where they won't be gawked at. He would, wouldn't he? Ianto likes that about him. It's nice to have a b— It's nice to be getting dinner with someone who knows his way around Cardiff's gay scene. No one Ianto knew would see him at those places.

This is public. Public-public, not queer-public and not dark-cinema-public. This is Ianto holding hands with a man and shyly averting his gaze from a man's where anyone in Cardiff could see him. This is Jack's foot rubbing Ianto's leg under the table and Ianto being torn between enjoying it and hoping the kids sitting two tables over didn't see. He's trying to carry on a conversation, but it's difficult with his ears open for any little comment from the waiter or the other patrons. He doesn't know what he'll do if any of them actually say anything. They probably should have just stayed at the base, or gone back to Ianto's flat.

Nothing bad happens.

Rhiannon calls, and Ianto tells her he's... with a friend. She laughs knowingly, and Jack laughs too. She tells him she'll make the conversation quick so he can get back to his date. She wishes him a happy birthday and he promises to visit soon.

Jack takes Ianto back to his flat and they 69 each other on Ianto's sofa, and Ianto wants Jack to stay the night but doesn't know how to ask him to. He's tempted to keep the sex going for hours just to see if he can get Jack so tired that he stays, but that's stupid. He lets Jack go. He tries to tell himself that being friends-with-benefits is good enough.

It's more than he really wants with another man anyway.

* * *

Ianto is twenty-six, and it's brilliant. He wakes up between Jack's warm body and the cool wall of Jack's bunker. Jack's kicked off the blankets and Ianto finds that adorable. Men centuries older than you aren't supposed to be adorable, but Jack is.

It's a small bed. Ianto can't move without waking Jack, so he holds very still until his restlessness becomes unbearable, and then when he starts to sit up, Jack wakes immediately and catches him, pulls him back down, and plants a kiss on his neck and wishes him a happy birthday. Their lips meet, and Jack slips his tongue into Ianto's mouth and lets Ianto stretch a bit by shifting their positions so that Ianto is on top of him. Ianto runs his hands over hard muscles and rests his head on Jack's chest when they break the kiss. He loves the way Jack smells in the morning. Jack says it's the pheromones. Ianto doesn't care.

He has to put on the same clothes he was wearing yesterday, because he doesn't have time to run home before Gwen shows up. Birthdays on weekdays are the worst. If it were a weekend and they weren't busy with a mission, they'd have some real fun. Sex on the bed. Sex in the shower. Sex on every available surface in the base and maybe Jack would finally talk Ianto into sex behind the perception filter on the Plass.

But it's a weekday, so Gwen arrives fifteen minutes late (deliberately, Ianto suspects) with doughnuts. Gwen asks Ianto if he feels old yet, and he replies that that's impossible with Jack in the room. Jack reminds them that Gwen has the earliest birth-year, but shuts down the conversation when Gwen and Ianto ask when his birthday actually is. He doesn't seem to have had one in the last three years. He's from a different planet, though. Maybe he really doesn't have one. Ianto lets it go. When you're shagging an immortal alien, you train yourself to not get hung up on these things.

They all wait around anxiously for 12:00, because Jack can feel somewhat-justified in dismissing Gwen at noon if they manage to go that long without an alien attack. All is quiet at noon, and Jack tries to sound official when he tells Gwen to please get lost, but she just laughs. "Yes, of course I'll leave you alone with your boyfriend," she says as she heads for the door. Neither of them dispute that Ianto is Jack's boyfriend.

Jack still can't talk Ianto into inappropriate use of the perception filter, but he does peel off those dirty clothes and give Ianto a Hell of a ride up in the tourism office, which is risky enough in its own right to be a thrill. They aren't caught.

Rhiannon calls to wish him a happy birthday, and he makes plans to see her soon. He'd avoided her and Cardiff for so long when he was younger, and now he's not sure why. He's sure his future is in Cardiff, not London.


End file.
